Alternative medicine is continuously gaining ground and getting acceptance from many people. Research shows that at least 4 out of 10 adult Americans use alternative medicine while the renowned National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reports that about 12 percent and 38 percent of children and adults respectively embrace alternative medicine.

In some instances, doctors and other medical practitioners are integrating some alternative therapies into their mainstream practice. By so doing, they in a way accept that indeed alternative medicine can be complementary to mainstream medicine.

Although it is not effective in healing severe conditions, alternative medicine may be able to effectively address medical questions of insomnia, stress, nausea, and infertility among others. Here is a closer look at the merits of alternative medicine.

Focuses on Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Well-being

One of the demerits associated with streamline medicine is the fact that medical practitioners tend to concentrate on the physical being of a patient at the expense of his or her mental and spiritual being. What this type of medicine neglects, alternative medicine embraces.

The fundamental reasoning in alternative medicine is that a person cannot be separated from the disease affecting him—the two are the same thing and must be healed simultaneously. That is what practitioners commonly refer to as whole-body medical care.

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine reported that patients feel better when their spiritual and mental welfare are taken into considerations after physical healing, a reason why they are continuously embracing alternative medicine.

Pain Relief for Chronic Illnesses and Less Side Effects

Patients’ reviews show that a majority of patients who fail to get pain relief in conventional medical treatments turn to alternative medicine.

The University of Michigan Health System sponsored research about seven years ago and found out that the frequent users of alternative therapies are the elderly who more often than not suffer from chronic diseases. As for insurance provisions, on the other hand, alternative medicine does not discriminate patients whose insurance providers do not cover pain clinics.

Whereas some mainstream medical therapies are in some cases create severe side effects, the alternative therapies have been proven to have fewer and less severe side effects. Some procedures, like therapeutic massage, for example, are administered to ease chronic pain and are known to have no side effects.

Cheaper Treatment Procedures Compared to Synthetic Medicine

Synthetic medicine development follows a long and costly path before products make their way to the pharmacy shelves. The process of researching, manufacturing, testing, and getting approval make this type of medicine too expensive for many average earners and below.

Alternative medicine, on the other hand, is relatively cheap because their prescription and procurement are not as sophisticated. Some natural medicine can be acquired from within your area. The caution here is that it is good to seek for expert advice before rushing into a natural remedy.

Is Alternative Medicine a SCAM?

Even with the wide acceptance of alternative medicine, some individuals and organizations argue that there are more cons than pros in this form of therapy. According to the Association of Caring Nurses against So-Called Alternative Medicine (ACN-SCAM), conventional medical practices are the only sure therapies for patients—everything else besides that is a scam. The association has been of the view that alternative medicine is more of a pyramid scheme that extorts money from gullible patients and then sells them false hope. Whether the nurses are right or wrong, only time will tell.

When taking care of you and your loved ones, you will in many cases be confronted with questions of which therapy suits you best—do you go for conventional or alternative medicine. In all, you just have to remember that both methodologies have a given level of success and a set of disadvantages. It is advisable to consult with the experts before committing yourself.